Meet the YPT Staff

YPT’s 2012 fiscal year began this month, and we could not be more excited to kick off another school year. We invite all of you to meet the FY12 staff and learn more about their roles with the company, and their dreams for the year!

David Snider, Producing Artistic Director and CEO

Time at YPT: Six years.
Role in FY12: I’ll be guiding the organization’s long-term vision, growth and sustainability, and focusing on board development and company culture.
Dream for FY12: To tee up YPT for even greater growth moving forward, towards a $1M budget, in order to serve more students better and longer.
Personal FY12 Theme Song: Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow by Fleetwood Mac.

Brigitte Pribnow Moore, Deputy Director

Time at YPT: Five years.
Role in FY12: In my new role as Deputy Director, I will be driving YPT’s fundraising and communications activities, and working with YPT’s senior staff and board on company culture, management and vision for the future. Exciting stuff.
Dream for FY12: This year, I want all of the members of our community - our students, parents, staff, artists, teachers, volunteers and supporters - to feel deeply valued and inspired. We are a company driven by amazing people, and we’ll be working hard to celebrate and honor all of you this year.
Personal FY12 Theme Song: What a Feeling by Irene Cara. That’s right. I went there.

Nicole Jost, Program Manager

Time at YPT: I first interned for YPT in 2006. I joined the staff in 2008.
Role in FY12: This year, I will continue to ensure that all of YPT’s programs provide an excellent experience for students. I will also lead our Young Playwrights’ Workshop student ensemble in the creation of a new original play, and grow YPT’s relationships with the communities we serve.
Dream for FY12: I hope to inspire students to pursue their dreams – whatever they may be!
Personal FY12 Theme Song: Eye of the Tiger by Survivor.

Laurie Ascoli, Program Associate

Time at YPT: As a teaching artist, I’ve been with YPT since August 2009. I’ve been on staff since August 2010.
Role in FY12: I’m primarily dedicated to programming, so I deal with everything related to our in-school and after-school workshops. In addition to teaching my own classes, I help to create curriculum, hire other teaching artists, make sure that all of the classes are running smoothly, and prepare for performances of student work. I’m also going to be working on community engagement this year with our Student and Community Ambassadors programs and other outreach initiatives.
Dream for FY12: I hope that all of the programming work we do this year will make the students we serve feel that their thoughts and opinions matter, get them excited about writing, and help them view the arts as a safe space to be themselves and share their ideas.
Personal FY12 Theme Song: Stevie Wonder’s I Wish. It is literally impossible to hear that song and not instantly feel better about life.

Alison Beyrle, Development and Producing Associate

Time at YPT: I have worked at YPT since August 2010.
Role in FY12: On the development side, I’ll be writing and sending out a lot of grant proposals and researching new opportunities for YPT, in addition to maintaining our contact database and communicating with our funders and donors. On the producing side, I’m excited to take on new production duties such as scheduling, maintaining production storage and ensuring that we have everything we need for the amazing performances coming up in FY12!
Dream for FY12: I would like to help YPT grow in new ways, while keeping everything well-organized and efficient along the way.
Personal FY12 Theme Song: Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles.

Liza Harbison, Communications and Graphic Design Associate

Time at YPT: One year.
Role in FY12: I will communicate YPT’s mission and dedication to our students through online and print communications.
Dream for FY12: My goal is to continue to learn and grow in communications and graphic design while getting to spend time with our awesome students and staff!
Personal FY12 Theme Song: In general the Fresh Prince theme song, but in relation to YPT I would say Don’t Stop Me Now by Queen.

Click here to learn more about the YPT staff. We can’t wait to celebrate the ideas and imaginations of YPT students with all of you in FY12!

Curriculum Writing Is Like Playwriting

At YPT one of the best things we have to offer is this magic moment. It’s the moment when a student’s idea is translated into performance through the work of an actor. We’re kind of obsessed with it. Students frequently make this transition from don’t-look-at-me-I’m-hiding-behind-my-hood to wow-I-created-something-so-amazing-I-rock. Performing student work is our way of showing our students that they are smart, creative, and important, instead of just telling them.

I should know. I’ve had my own magic moment with YPT. When I was in the tenth grade at Wilson High School I wrote The Fear and the Pope, a play about two girl criminals. It was the memory of that amazing performance of my first play that got me hooked. I thought, “This is incredible. I LOVE this.” And later that became, “Everyone deserves this.”

Over the past couple weeks it has been my great pleasure to attend the first YPT workshops at many of our partner schools. It’s a treat for me to see our teaching artists in action. Being in the classroom reminds me why we put so much work into our curriculum (something I’ve written about before).

At Elsie Whitlow Stokes Community Freedom Public Charter School, I sat in on a class led by YPT teaching artist Rachel Stevens. Rachel is a talented actress as well as a talented teacher, and it was wonderful to see her bring her presence as a performer to this room of fifth graders. She hammed it up, they ate it up. And then she asked them, “What makes a good audience member?” Bam. Magic moment. I went from isn’t-it-nice-being-a-passive-observer to I-recognize-that-question! Because, of course, she’s teaching the YPT curriculum. That question had a journey from paper to classroom, and this was its conclusion.

All of a sudden I could see the journey the whole curriculum had taken: years being tested in the classroom; years being revised, reworked and tweaked; finally being questioned and amended and dreamed about this summer; and now, here it was on its feet. Working! Really well! The students identified “listening”, “clapping at the right time”, and “being quiet” as traits of a good audience member. They set the standards, and Rachel held them to those standards during the lesson.

Curriculum writing is like playwriting. It starts on paper, in theory. It has no life until it’s taken up by someone who can skillfully bring it forward to others. The exchange between that teacher/facilitator/performer and her student audience is its purpose.

I am so proud of my role in creating and shaping YPT’s curriculum. I believe in what we are giving to students. It’s just icing on the cake that it’s also personally rewarding (read: magic).

Nicole
Program Manager